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Trump claims US has total control over strait of Hormuz after Iran seizes two container ships

Apr 23, 2026Center Left

US president says Tehran hobbled by infighting as Pentagon reportedly briefs mine clearance may take six monthsMiddle East crisis – live updatesDonald Trump has again said that the US has “total control over the strait of Hormuz”, adding that Iran’s leadership was so hobbled by infighting that it was unclear who was in charge.But the US president’s claim seemed questionable in the face of the seizure of two container ships by Iranian commandos and a US report warning it could take six months to clear the strait of mines. Continue reading...

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Trump's becoming 'more erratic' — 'even by Trumpian standards': Aides

Raw Story

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Trump's becoming 'more erratic' — 'even by Trumpian standards': Aides

President Donald Trump’s own aides say he’s become “more erratic” in recent weeks as he’s forced to confront the “limits on his power,” The New York Times reported Sunday.Those “limits,” according to the Times, were exposed by the president’s inability to achieve his stated objectives in his deeply unpopular war against Iran, despite the overwhelming superiority of the U.S. military.“In recent weeks, he has seemed trapped, his presidency gradually consumed by a war he cannot find his way out of,” the Times’ report reads.“He has discovered limits on his power that he could have scarcely imagined when he began full combat operations on Feb. 28, when he set out goals for a swift end to Iran’s nuclear program and the overthrow of the country’s government. Five months later, those goals remain almost entirely unaccomplished.”Despite his efforts, Trump and his administration have failed to not only achieve their objectives in the war against Iran, but have been unable to combat surging oil prices and inflation. And those failures, according to his own aides, have left him rattled.“Those limits have left him deeply frustrated, his aides say, and have made him more erratic, even by Trumpian standards,” the Times’ report reads.“Not all of Mr. Trump’s frustrations, people close to the president say, are driven by the war, now so unpopular that only 29 percent of Americans polled by the Washington Post and Ipsos approved of his handling of the conflict. But much of it is. And the angst is clear as he promises to stop Iran’s nuclear program at any cost, while his allies at home want out.”As noted by the Times, Trump only has three options at his disposal: escalate his military campaign against Tehran, which has already shown little success, rely on sanctions, which similarly have failed to topple Iran’s government, or “declare victory and go home,” which Trump appeared receptive to last month after agreeing to a tentative peace deal that quickly fell apart.Pulling out of the war entirely, the Times noted, however, would “define his legacy,” and “make clear that there are more constraints on his power than he believed in January, when he declared that his reach was limitless.”

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Former Trump food official calls for independent review of federal government response to Cyclospora outbreak

The Hill News

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Former Trump food official calls for independent review of federal government response to Cyclospora outbreak

Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Deputy Commissioner Frank Yiannas, who served under both President Trump and former President Biden, criticized the federal government’s handling of a Cyclospora outbreak that has impacted thousands of Americans. In an interview with Politico, Yiannas called for an independent review of the government’s response to this outbreak and cited…

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Kornacki: Which states Democrats ‘have to win’ for control of Congress

NBC News Politics

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Kornacki: Which states Democrats ‘have to win’ for control of Congress

NBC News Chief Data Analyst Steve Kornacki joins Meet the Press to analyze the key issues weighing on Republicans and Democrats 100 days out from the midterm elections.

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Trump's now thinking about his own death — and that's petrifying

Raw Story

2 hours ago

Trump's now thinking about his own death — and that's petrifying

It’s hard to believe that we’re less than two months away from the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, that horrible day when war arrived at our doorstep.One thing that’s always stuck in my head was the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers onboard the four jets that wreaked such deadly havoc were citizens of Saudi Arabia. This doesn’t necessarily mean that kingdom had an active hand in the terror, and the 9/11 Commission found no evidence that the Saudi government knowingly funded or directed the attacks. But it still makes you wonder.I bring this up now because you may have heard that Trump this week approved a landmark 30-year deal to provide the Saudis with the civilian nuclear program they had long sought. It gives U.S. companies a monopoly on developing a nuclear infrastructure for the Arab country without the necessity of requiring monitoring and inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency to make sure the “peaceful” use of nuclear fuel isn’t enriched for a weapon.If it sounds like a horrible idea, that may be because it is. No oversight to keep a rogue nation in line? What could possibly go wrong besides everything?But of course, money talks, and that’s something the oil-rich Saudi Arabia has in outrageous abundance. It’s the only language that Trump understands, and the deal would be worth billions in contracts to U.S. firms that work in nuclear technology.And of course, this is a giant victory for the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, better known as MBS, who has long vowed to build a nuclear weapon if Iran is permitted to. It’s frankly difficult to argue with this logic, even if Trump’s much-repeated reason for his war is to stop Iran from making nukes.What’s the difference between Iran and Saudi Arabia having a nuclear weapon? Several billion dollars, that’s what. The deal with the Saudis pretty much guarantees that nuclear nonproliferation is out the window in the Middle East for the foreseeable future.But let’s get back to MBS for a moment. He is the key to this whole deal, and his relationship with Trump is at the center of it. The president basically sees the guy as a living, breathing ATM who has access to so much wealth that Trump is willing to look past the fact he’s a murderous swine.It was a little under eight years ago that a Saudi journalist, dissident, author, columnist and editor named Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain documents for his upcoming marriage. He never left. He was assassinated and carved into pieces by a bone saw, and all suspicion fell on MBS for having approved the operation to murder Khashoggi for his critical assessment of the Saudi government.MBS denied any involvement. But we might imagine that this incident would stain the relationship between America and Saudi Arabia. And that assessment would be wrong. Trump for one never thinks less of someone who dismembers a journalist and in fact has disparaged other journalists for making MBS feel uncomfortable in press briefings.When Trump traveled to Riyadh in 2025 and stood beside MBS, he smiled broadly while declaring of him, “I like him a lot. I like him too much.” Indeed, we all know how Trump feels about vicious leaders. These are his people. His cup of admiration runneth over.There is also too much money at stake for Trump to ever seriously question his buddy about something so minor as a nuclear agreement. He is literally selling out the world’s safety. Just look at how handsomely his relationship with the kingdom has paid off for his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.It was in 2021 that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) committed $2 billion to Kushner’s private equity firm, Affinity Partners. It’s been emphasized by Kushner that this is an investment in the fund, not a personal payment to him, except for the fact that the fund is him. He owns Affinity and his firm collects management fees. Senate investigators estimated in 2024 that Affinity had accrued roughly $87 million in fees from the Saudi government to date.Then this past March, Kushner – while working purportedly as a Mideast envoy – in his spare time spoke with potential investors from PIF about raising an additional $5 billion for Affinity. Do I even need to mention that PIF is led by MBS?It thus goes without saying that this nuclear pact stinks of nepotism and payoffs. The interest conflicts are glaring and multitudinous. You think that when there are billions of dollars of family money at stake, the extended Trump family is going to worry about inspections and keeping Saudi Arabia from developing nukes when that’s already their stated goal?This is how graft and corruption puts the world at risk. It extends far beyond personal accountability. The only thing keeping the kingdom from enriching its own nuclear fuel to create weapons is its own assurances.Are we really supposed to trust the Saudi energy ministry’s promises of “cooperation on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy”?

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Trump Reportedly Puts Plans to Expand Iran War on Hold

NBC News Politics

2 hours ago

Trump Reportedly Puts Plans to Expand Iran War on Hold

Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker joins NBC’s Joe Fryer on Sunday TODAY to discuss reports that President Donald Trump is putting plans to expand the war in Iran on hold as pressure mounts. “After weeks of saying Iran wanted to make a deal, he’s now saying Iran isn’t ready to make a deal so it’s just not clear where the offramp is here,” Kristen says.

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Trump's 'get-out-the-vote' fail exposed by laughing expert: 'Doing it for the other side!'

Raw Story

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Trump's 'get-out-the-vote' fail exposed by laughing expert: 'Doing it for the other side!'

President Donald Trump’s pitch to GOP voters this election cycle may very well be what hands Democrats a historic midterm victory, former Trump official Miles Taylor predicted on MS NOW’s “The Weekend" Sunday.“I genuinely think that we are seeing Donald Trump mount an absolutely historic get-out-the-vote effort," said Taylor, a former senior advisor for the Department of Homeland Security. "The only problem for him is he's doing it for the other side."His fellow panelists burst out laughing. Earlier this month, Trump claimed that if his controversial voter ID bill known as the SAVE America Act became law, Republicans would maintain control of Congress for 100 years. He also told Christian GOP voters that if they supported him in 2024, they “don’t have to vote again” as he and Republicans would have it “fixed so good.”“Almost three in four Democrats in this country say this is the most important midterm in their lifetimes, extraordinary enthusiasm about getting out to vote in this election. On the other hand, Republicans, their enthusiasm is very soft this election cycle,” Taylor said.“It's because there's been a guy at the head of their party for the past two years who's said, 'if you re-elect me, you'll never have to vote again,'" Taylor said. "Unfortunately for him, they seem to be listening! They seem to be thinking, 'maybe we don't need to vote again!' This is the same man who weeks ago on July 3 said, 'if you let me pass the SAVE America Act, Republicans will win for 100 years' – he's telling his side, 'we don't need you to show up, we've got it covered!'”Taylor continued, “That's showing up in the data, and if that holds until election day, it's gonna be a rout for Donald Trump.”Eugene Daniels, “The Weekend" co-hi concurred with Taylor’s prediction, noting that Trump’s claims about supposed Chinese efforts to influence the 2024 election could also have a suppressing effect on GOP voter turnout.“And he's telling his voters that your vote won't count, he's telling them over and over again that they're gonna steal the election! So if I'm a voter, why would I vote?” Daniels said.“If China or Venezuela or these random countries that he chooses are going to make my vote not count, why would I vote? I've talked to Republican strategists who would love for him to stop talking about this, but it's been 10 years and I don't think he's going to.”Taylor argued that while Trump’s own words may very well suppress GOP voter turnout, they were also a key factor in Democrats’ enthusiasm heading into November.“If you look at the data right now, there is a remarkable enthusiasm gap between Democrats and Republicans, and it's largely driven by Trump himself,” Taylor continued. “Donald Trump has made Democrats feel like the fundamental right to vote is at stake, and a lot of folks worry that would result in voter suppression.”

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Trump makes stunning admission in early morning post: 'Incredibly smart'

Raw Story

3 hours ago

Trump makes stunning admission in early morning post: 'Incredibly smart'

President Donald Trump said the quiet part out loud early Sunday morning — or at least, he reposted it. Trump's startling admission came in the form of a Truth Social post — one of more than a dozen he posted about 5:20 a.m. — that centered on a video clip Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) shredding his SAVE America Act to pieces. "It's already illegal for someone who is not an American noncitizen to vote," Warren can be heard telling a reporter. "I don't understand why you want laws that are already there." Warren was clearly referring to the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 which prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections. This is one of three common critiques of Trump's controversial legislation. The second is that it could have "dystopian" consequences for Americans, as the National Women's Law Center explains. "This bill could disenfranchise 21.3 million eligible voters who don’t have the required documents ready, and it would particularly impact married women and trans people—all in order to fix a problem that doesn’t exist," an NWLC explainer states. "It’s voter suppression that perpetuates anti-immigrant misinformation."The third common critique is most commonly made by Republicans in the Senate who say it hasn't a chance of passing no matter how much pressure Trump puts on Majority Leader Sen. John Thune (R-SD). “This idea that he can just command members of the Republican conference to get in line is just a fantasy," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) earlier this week. “I don’t know who it was that sold the president on this idea, that this was obtainable, but it’s creating a circular firing squad for Republicans.”The Warren clip appeared among many reposts of commentary from Sen. Mike Lee, who was attempting to defend the SAVE America Act.The Utah Republican's most direct defense of the legislation was that existing noncitizen-voting law was "impossible to enforce." But he also made another direct claim — a kind compliment for the Massachusetts senator. Wrote Lee, "Elizabeth Warren is incredibly smart."

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